How To Escape The Startup Trough Of Sorrow

Positioning your brand/product in the market - in simple terms - is giving a clear articulation of what gives your brand an edge over competitors. It’s the communication around how you solve a customer's problem better than anyone else.

Agency folks sometimes express a piece of positioning work as “the big brand idea” which usually comes with a few supporting documents such as a brand manifesto, tone-of-voice and style guidelines. Strategists, designers and copywriters then build on these documents to develop assets like a brand book and ad campaigns - which we will explore later in the series.

The sandbox positioning document we will work to produce can also be thought of as a “broad creative territory” that the company can play in over the next few years -  informing your creative assets like design and copywriting. With new competitors constantly popping up and an ever changing market, positioning work is usually not meant to be permanent. Evolving trends often force brands to tweak their positioning or sometimes change it entirely.

This is especially true for startups - I’ve seen many strike a gold vein early with a huge growth curve in the first 3 years of existence. They then hit a trough of sorrow with a growth stall. This can be a sign that it’s time to revisit your positioning and adjust to the current needs of the market and make sure you’re still providing unique value that the new players on the block don't offer. Especially if you’re trying to go after a new or additional audience segment.

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